Instagram Now Flags Potentially Offensive Captions Before Users Post
In an effort to combat online bullying.
Instagram recently rolled out a new feature that alerts users when they are about to post a potentially offensive caption. Now, when Instagram’s AI detects a caption that it believes could be offensive, it displays a pop-up that encourages the user to think before hitting “post,” which reads “This caption looks similar to others that have been reported.”
The social media platform recognizes its role in online bullying and hopes this new feature will encourage its users to “pause and reconsider” their words before sharing them with the world. Instagram already rolled out a similar feature for comments earlier this year, which it states has shown promising results. To create these new features, Instagram’s team developed and tested AI that is able to identify various types of bullying on the platform.
If a user ever encounters the pop-up notification, they will be given the option to edit their caption, learn more about Instagram’s terms and conditions or go ahead and post the flagged content. It is important to note that Instagram will not actually block users from posting their potentially offensive captions.
Instagram has confirmed that this new feature has already begun in select countries ahead of its global rollout, which will happen over the next few months.
Elsewhere in tech, the FBI has busted two illegal streaming sites that have more content than Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.
